Spectral Sweetheart
by Thermophile57
Summary: AU - Dying is the worst thing that can happen...supposedly. Oneshot, Shonen Ai, KakaIru, slight blood, slightly ethereal...quite short actually...


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters mentioned in this piece...but Iruka belongs to Kakashi and vice versa...

For you, my love.

XxX

* * *

**_Spectral Sweetheart_**

By: Thermophile57

XxX

He'd never known what it felt like to fall in love.

Sure, he knew what falling felt like, both the figurative and the literal, but he'd never been in love.

Even now, as the snow fell against his smooth, cooling cheek, his only regret was that he never fell in love with someone, a fact that was becoming less and less important to him with the decrease in his heartbeat.

The doctors had tried everything but it was just a little too late by the time they'd reached his body. Iruka couldn't really blame them for that, after all, since he had insisted on hiking in that specific park on the outskirts in town. The only thing that could take the fall, excuse the pun, would have had to be his lack of luck.

Watching the paramedics try their hardest to resuscitate him, he felt a small sadness pull at his heart at knowing that they could probably be anywhere else but there, on today of all days.

"_If they did have somewhere to be, wouldn't you think they'd take the day off?"_

Frowning, Iruka slid his eyes back up from the tiny flower in his fingers towards those smoky eyes and raised brow, the words that were on his uplifted lips briefly lost in a huff before he remembered himself and spoke, _"well…maybe not but….it's kind of sad to have someone die in your hands on New Year's Eve, isn't it?"_

"_It's their job, Iruka,"_ the older man said with a chuckle, the comment almost crooned out in that rich voice of his as Iruka's smile fell in thought.

It crossed his mind that he hadn't told the other man his name and neither had Kakashi told Iruka his but….

The thought seemed to resonate to the man next to him and he watched as Kakashi's smile fell as well while the silver-haired man looked passed Iruka into the fields surrounding them, his eyes glazing over as if caught in a trance. Silence descended upon them and they listened to the soft breeze flutter around them, never touching the two of them but constantly there as a shadow.

Neither of them remembered meeting each other here or there but it felt like something was tying them together in what felt like eternity and Iruka couldn't help but ask as he looked back up from their touching knees, _"Kakashi?"_

When the man looked up, Iruka swallowed back on the painful pinch behind his eyes, _"are we dead?"_

Kakashi's brows drew together in something resembling maybe sympathy or compassion as his hand slid Iruka's free hand, squeezing it as he nodded sadly, a smile mirroring the emotion in his distressed eyes. He looked away and Iruka could only do the same and bite his lip to repress the unnerving feeling that spread from his head to his toes, one that was composed of pins, needle and cold sweat.

They sat there in the wind they couldn't feel until all that was left was the sense of each other's presence. Iruka fidgeted and Kakashi looked down at him, their eyes meeting again as the panic from before took its final bag and left. The older man frowned as he saw Iruka's lips turned up again and heard the snicker coming from pursed lips.

Iruka was laughing, not a hysterical one because they were dead but an ironic one that only brought about confusion to his acquaintance. The brunet fell back into the grass around them, gasping for breath from his sudden fit of laughter.

"_What? What's wrong?"_ the concern in Kakashi's voice only made the younger man chuckle harder, rolling onto his side as the other man kneeled over him, bewilderment and unease marring his face.

"_N-nothing,"_ was the gasp and Iruka finally looked up at Kakashi with smiling eyes, the other man deflating and dropping down right next to the younger man who watched with a distant expression. Seeing this, Kakashi propped up his cheek with his palm and stared back, the air between them lifting.

_Figure's I'd only fall in love once I'm dead….if this is what love feels like…._

Iruka smiled at Kakashi, the man quirking the corner of his lips up in return. They laid there until the pale man lifted his hand up to Iruka's chin after the longest time, it happening just as his fingers touched.

The contact sparked images, flashes of life flitting into each other's mind.

With a gasp, the older man drew back, eyes wide as the brunet tried to process what he'd seen. It had been quick, brief moments but it had felt real; the taste of liquor on his lips as Obito dropped the last bill from his open wallet onto the counter, flipping his silver hair out of his eyes just as the oncoming car's light came into view and the cold of the asphalt against his bloody cheek.

The air stilled and froze, the sky darkening as the ground turned into cold ice, chilling their breaths enough so that their air came out as a fog. Feeling the frostbite creep into his skin and lips, Iruka watched as Kakashi's eyes widened, the older man's left eye rapidly dripping blood as it melted away into the air. It was that last harsh call of his own name from the older man's lips that brought Iruka falling back through the dark void, crashing down into the shaking form of his body.

The paramedics jumped back in surprise as the body beneath their fingers finally coughed up the water in its lungs, wheezing for the air that it couldn't take in quick enough, the uniformed men strapping the oxygen mask tightly over his face after the cold pond water rushed out. The movements around the brunet blurred as his breathing steadied and his heart rate slowed, the scenery changing suddenly to that of a white room with a man in white surgical mask pointing a light at his eyes and checking his pulse.

XxXx

Time slowed down, back to normal, after a long time of being stuck on fast-forward and Iruka smiled when Naruto ran into his hospital room, crying his eyeballs out and yelling at him for not paying attention to the rocky edge of the mountain trail, something that Iruka was dearly paying for. His muscle screamed in protest every time he shifted and it seemed as if there was nowhere on his body where there weren't any bruised. There were even a few cuts here and there on his arms, cheeks and legs, from the ice that he had crashed through, no doubt.

He knew, though, that he wouldn't trade being alive for anything in the world, being able to feel pain, heat and even to hear Naruto's noisy but warm chatter again. It was all so overwhelming that he couldn't sleep that night, eyes bright and wide as he watched his young ward sleep fitfully on the uncomfortable side chair, curled in a ball.

XxXxX

Smiling at the thought of finally going home, Iruka couldn't help but turn his head back to the young man beside him, the blonde's eyes fixed on the road up ahead. The almost-man glanced at his happy caretaker and put on a smirk, "I know I've got a pretty face, Iruka, but I'm kinda getting weirded out by that face you're giving me."

Iruka couldn't help but laugh at that, laughs turning into coughs that racked his whole body, making Naruto's eyes widen as the car started to slow down. With a wave, the brunet sat back up properly and coughed once more, "s'okay…I'm fine."

The unsure look Naruto gave him was one that made Iruka sigh after the last cough, "I'm fine, trust me."

"Can you at least drink some water to put my mind at ease?"

A smile slipped onto his lips before doing as his young charge suggested.

XxXxXx

It was two in the morning. That was, at least, what the clock said (they didn't exactly have a penchant for lying) and Iruka flicked on the laptop by his bed, plugging in his earphones to stop the speakers from waking the blond in the next room over.

After pulling up a search engine, Iruka typed in the only names that seemed important to him other than Naruto since the accident.

Kakashi and Obito.

With wide eyes, Iruka scanned the first page with both hope and fear and finally blew out a breath he had been holding as a small grin formed itself, the answer he'd been wondering about staring him blankly in the face.

Sure, the circumstances would be depressing but…..there was no time like the present, right?

XxXxXxX

The rain was fitting, suiting the mood of gloom that hung in the air around everyone that passed him. Wearing his best dress shirt and tie, the black coat on his shoulders weighed down heavily on him as if he was supporting the weight of the world which was probably just because of the agitation running through him.

Almost everyone had left except maybe him, Naruto and the two people standing at the newly filled grave at the back of the yard.

It took long moments before the brunet remembered how to breathe again at the sight of that fly-away silver hair weighed down by the sky's burden and the tall form that was veiled by the formal black suit he was wearing. Even though his back was to the brunet, Iruka simply knew…..he just _knew_ who he was, slouch and all.

About to start forward, a hand grabbed Iruka's arm, prompting him to turn back to the young man by his side, "I'm fine, Naruto, let go,"

"You just got out of crutches a week ago, Iruka," the blond pleaded, "just wait until he comes down, will ya?"

"I….." knowing Naruto was right, the older man sighed after a moment's hesitation and nodded, the wait commencing as the rain slowly tapered down into a light patter. The trees that covered the path leading up to the graveyard had provided the coverage from the rain so far, the umbrella they didn't need tapping anxiously against the tree that Iruka leaned back against, anticipating the moment when Kakashi would turn around and see them.

He watched as the figure of his attention glanced over to the slim woman with him, the tall man putting a hand on her shoulder as she nodded and turned to leave, heading towards Naruto and Iruka through the light drizzle that her umbrella shielded her from. Without even looking up, the red-face young woman passed and continued on down the slight fill towards the parking lot.

Looking up, the question about whether that near-death dream had been real or not that had plagued Iruka for months now was finally answered as he turned his head back up to meet a stunned, steel grey eye whose owner was staring at him from across the lawn slack-jawed, the other eye covered by the white bandages. The man's mouth closed once the shock had passed, giving Iruka a smile that spoke the beginning of something.

That's when Iruka fell.

X The End X

* * *

The fluff bunnies...THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!

I would be very happy if you would review...

Inspired by _The Lovely Bones. _

I hope you enjoyed this oneshot,

Loads of love,

T-Bear


End file.
